This article follows my last post, on the planning and preparation for my shoot with the hugely experienced model Artemis Fauna, where I discussed the ideas and concepts I had for our shoot. The plan was to use some shiny silver reflective film as a backdrop, a bicycle to produce some sculptural shapes that would compliment the shapes of the body, and some industrial accessories and props I found and painted to give the shoot an industrial edge.
The shoot was to be divided into four primary “looks”.
- Silver Backdrop – Mechanical, jarring, sci-fi feeling backdrop to contrast with the softness of Artemis’ figure and to compliment the silver bicycle and industrial props.
- Bike Interaction -Artemis will straddle, lean, trace the form. Shot wide to include base panels and clamps. The frame is compositional, not symbolic.
- Helmet & Wrench – Brutalist. Artemis with helmet tilted, wrench cradled or lifted.
- Just Artemis– Clean frames without props. Light, posture, breath. These are the quiet moments—the ones that prove the build didn’t crowd out presence. Shot close, with panels softly out of focus behind her.
So on the morning of the shoot, I headed in to the studio to set up the silver backdrop. The roll of film was around 1m wide, so I rolled out the white seamless backdrop and taped three long strips of silver mylar to the backdrop stand. After laying three sheets of clear perspex over the floor area, the effect had real potential. I rode the bike to a nearby cycle store to borrow a display stand, with which they were very helpful – Note to self: don’t ride sculptural props without brakes on busy roads! – and positioned the bike in the frame. Unfortunately, the curved sculptural handlebars hadn’t arrived so I had to use the bike’s existing straight bars – definitely a sculptural compromise but still worth a shot.
Taking a few test shots I soon realised that the reflections from the silver film were simply uncontrollable. Blown out whites where the flash was reflected into the lens, and deep blacks where there was no specular reflection. There was simply not enough diffusion. I tried adjustment after adjustment, modifier after modifier, but simply couldn’t get those reflections in-check. The silver film had to go!
With no time to spare, I lifted the perspex sheets and rolled up the silver film, revealing the white backdrop underneath. Finally, something I could rely on!
With 45 minutes until shoot time, I headed across Aberdeen to collect Artemis from her hotel. I had to circumnavigate the new “Low Emissions Zone” in Aberdeen due to my car being non-compliant, and must have been blocked by at least four sets of roadworks along the way. Eventually I found my way to her hotel – having to jog the last 100m on foot due to yet more roadworks blocking my way. Soon we were both back in the studio – 15 minutes after shoot time, but ready to go!
The bike was still set up, so we hurriedly got Artemis ready, skipping the review of the moodboard, and jumped into the frame!
The shots were rolling in thick and fast: A few lighting adjustments here and there and we were rolling. The bike looked great – Artemis looked great. Maybe the bike was a little tall for Artemis’ frame, but thankfully she was wearing heels so could straddle and work creatively with the bike as it is. I’m not 100% sure about the high heels, but I’m in for the ride now so just working the flow for fifteen minutes or so.
After a time, our attention turns to the Welding helmet. I’ve seen some great work done with accessories and props of this nature, so I gave Artemis free rein to use the helmet and spanner/wrench as creatively as she could. The brief was to work on powerful strong poses, reminiscent of those by Helmut Newton or Herb Ritts.
Next, we set the props aside and reset the vibe using simple posing blocks and crates. Immediately, I felt back in my comfort zone and the poses started to flow more easily. Evidently I need to work more with interesting props, moodboarding etc, to formulate a more cohesive plan etc. The shapes and poses Artemis is throwing at me are fantastic!
In preparation for future shoots in my “New Masters” project, I had started collecting a few pieces of fabric. I happened to have a sheer green curtain in my bag, which I thought it might be fun to introduce for a while.
I spoke with Artemis about the New Masters project, but mentioned how I didnt have enough fabrics to make much of a shot. Immediately, she dove into her magic bag of accessories, and pulled out several dresses and shawls, which we put to use as fabric drapery to see what we could achieve. Obviously I need to do some work on these to extend fabrics where we didn’t have enough, but I think this part of the shoot was very productive.
With only a half hour left on the clock, I had one more look in my bag and pulled out some striped socks and long gloves. Of course, Artemis leapt into these creatively and gave me some spectacular poses to round off the shoot.
Reflections: So while the shoot didn’t go entirely to plan, – the silver background etc – we still created some stunning shots together. After reviewing the images from the shoot, I could feel the burn of shooting out of my comfort zone. Those props were stronger than I had intended and made for some challenging poses, which Artemis pulled off effortlessly of course! Of course, I’ll see in the editing phase whether these truly work or not. Perhaps they will work better in high-contrast mono than they do in the colour images straight-out-of-camera. Changing a shot to mono often alters the vibe of the shot quite dramatically, so there is hope for some powerful work here.
Right now, I’m feeling that most productive look was that with the striped socks and gloves – just too many great shots to choose from!
Looking forward to getting some editing done over the next couple of weeks and reporting back of the results here!